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Paying daily resort fee now if staying at HGVC in Vegas via RCI?

I'm now seeing a $25 per day resort fee shown on the HGVC Las Vegas properties (with the exception of Trump; and that is probably because I think HGVC is not managing that property) if you trade in via RCI -- not through the HGVC portal but through RCI with a non-HGVC property.

I had an exchange into Elara last month and did not pay any resort fee. But I reserved that a year earlier when it probably was not in effect yet.

Have any HGVC owners traded into one of the Las Vegas properties recently (through RCI with a non-HGVC property) and been charged the $25 per day resort fee? Or have you found that they will waive it if you tell them at check-in that you are an HGVC owner?

Maybe this is useless - I just looked on the HGVC RCI portal and if you trade back into HGVC in Las Vegas it shows a $25 resort fee on that page too. So they may be charging $25 a day to anyone who books through RCI now no matter who they are..

I'm now seeing a $25 per day resort fee shown on the HGVC Las Vegas properties (with the exception of Trump; and that is probably because I think HGVC is not managing that property) if you trade in via RCI -- not through the HGVC portal but through RCI with a non-HGVC property.

I had an exchange into Elara last month and did not pay any resort fee. But I reserved that a year earlier when it probably was not in effect yet.

Have any HGVC owners traded into one of the Las Vegas properties recently (through RCI with a non-HGVC property) and been charged the $25 per day resort fee? Or have you found that they will waive it if you tell them at check-in that you are an HGVC owner?

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Can’t give you info on Vegas but in writing, I was told if I traded within the hgvc portal to a hgvc Orlando resort I would have to pay the $25 daily resort fee. Doubt they would give higher status to a trade from a non hgvc property.

If you trade into HGVC property you will be charged the $25 daily resort fee. Doesn't matter if you trade using HGVC points or not. The only way to avoid the resort fee is to book using HGVC portal for home week, club season or open season reservations. Cant charge us owners a resort fee though we have to pay for parking in waikiki.

It used to make booking via RCI not a bad deal, because it would be less HGVC points for the same property. However when you add the RCI booking fee of $239 (or is that going up) and the $175 resort fee ($25 day/7 days), then you are now adding up to $414 onto the exchange. Makes booking within HGVC a much better deal now, even if it is more points. I stopped picking up HGVC via RCI for the most part.

At my MF $ that would amount to over 1970 HGVC points, so it makes the reduction in points a wash, as that is about the same cost as the additional fees.

The only way it would make sense is in lieu of buying more HGVC points if every once in a while you booked an extra HGVC stay, but lacked the sufficient HGVC points to do it directly.

Nice analysis, Sandy. First they raised the Open Season rates so much that Open Season became a non-benefit, and with the resort charge, the "point stretching" feature of using RCI to trade back into a HGVC resort has now also become a non-benefit.

A number of months ago I told a Vice President at HGVC that charging the $25 Resort Fee in Las Vegas and Orlando could be counter productive since there are so many other timeshare resorts in those areas that it may result in an increase in vacancies. I haven't been watching the vacancies but I know that I would probably go somewhere else if I was going to stay in those locations.

By the way they never charge me for parking at the HGVC Waikiki resorts. I guess its because I never have a car!

A number of months ago I told a Vice President at HGVC that charging the $25 Resort Fee in Las Vegas and Orlando could be counter productive since there are so many other timeshare resorts in those areas that it may result in an increase in vacancies. I haven't been watching the vacancies but I know that I would probably go somewhere else if I was going to stay in those locations.

By the way they never charge me for parking at the HGVC Waikiki resorts. I guess its because I never have a car!

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Not so easy for me as I still need to go to work My solution is to buy a Hale Koa parking pass for $185 for the month. Works for me as we usually stay 3-4 weeks at a time. Actually if you are staying 4 or more days, it is cheaper to but the pass.

Since we stay at Grand Islander or Hokulani most of the time, the Hale Koa garage is actually closer than HHV parking structure. You can park in the Hale Koa overflow lot behind the Hokulani when staying there.

This is what happens when a company goes public, its all about shareholder value now, screw the owners.

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This is not about HGVC owners. This is about people who trade in (who could be HGVC, or from anywhere else). They don't charge this for HGVC stays. As an HGVC owner (even though at another property) I'm in favor of this.

As to "shareholder value," of course this is of prime importance. They have a fiduciary and legal responsibility to this that they should uphold.

This is not about HGVC owners. This is about people who trade in (who could be HGVC, or from anywhere else). They don't charge this for HGVC stays. As an HGVC owner (even though at another property) I'm in favor of this.

As to "shareholder value," of course this is of prime importance. They have a fiduciary and legal responsibility to this that they should uphold.

Cheers.

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I am not in favor of this especially to hgvc owners trading in. Often there is hgvc inventory in RCI that is not on the hgvc site. We are not only paying for the trade but the additional resort fee when hgvc does not have the inventory available to its members.

It’s just a greedy way to get more money. If more mfs are needed increase them. In timeshare trading, all resorts shouldn’t be allowed to charge resort fees. In time it will reduce demand of hgvc units, especially in Orlando, and our trading value will be diminished.

To be fair, not only large chains are doing this. A great self managed resort I own charges a $5 day resort fee to a trader or owner using that week. To me this is wrong too. Obviously the mf needs to be $35 a week more.

I am not in favor of this especially to hgvc owners trading in. Often there is hgvc inventory in RCI that is not on the hgvc site. We are not only paying for the trade but the additional resort fee when hgvc does not have the inventory available to its members.

It’s just a greedy way to get more money. If more mfs are needed increase them. In timeshare trading, all resorts shouldn’t be allowed to charge resort fees. In time it will reduce demand of hgvc units, especially in Orlando, and our trading value will be diminished.

To be fair, not only large chains are doing this. A great self managed resort I own charges a $5 day resort fee to a trader or owner using that week. To me this is wrong too. Obviously the mf needs to be $35 a week more.

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Keep in mind that the HGVC inventory that is on the RCI website is that which HGVC members exchanged in for an RCI reservation. Therefore, an HGVC member exchanging into an HGVC resort via the RCI website cannot be treated differently than anyone else.

However, I don't agree with the resort fee. While HGVC resorts are very nice they usually don't have anything exceptional that distinguishes it from most other resorts to cause people staying there to have to pay extra. If needed the resort should raise their maintenance fees. We recently stayed at a non HGVC resort in Florida which had a $24.75 resort fee per day which I thought was excessive. The resort fee was mandatory but gave you daily access to a large Anytime Fitness brand private gym and a private water park adjacent to the property which costs others $49.50 a day. While my husband and I did use the gym everyday, we only utilized the water park for 3 days and if the weather was cooler or wetter we might not have used it at all. Gyms, although more modest, are what I would consider standard at most resorts, however, water parks are not.

However, I don't agree with the resort fee. While HGVC resorts are very nice they usually don't have anything exceptional that distinguishes it from most other resorts to cause people staying there to have to pay extra.

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Oh, I don't agree with resort fees either. I think they're scummy and slimy. However, if a place does have a (scummy, slimy} resort fee, then I'm OK with them also charging for RCI traders. Best if they didn't have it, of course...because,well, it's scummy and slimy.

And this is how rational people can disagree civilly. I'd rather have the traders pay than me. Just as I'm OK with municipalities charging a modest "tourist tax" when I stay in a hotel.

Cheers.

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Ah, but the owners already paid with their maint fees, now HGV is collecting twice. Does it really cost extra for the phones, wifi, movie rentals, etc that the resort fees are supposed to cover just because someone trades in? Does the owner that traded out get a refund of the resort fee for the amenities already paid for?

Ah, but the owners already paid with their maint fees, now HGV is collecting twice. Does it really cost extra for the phones, wifi, movie rentals, etc that the resort fees are supposed to cover just because someone trades in? Does the owner that traded out get a refund of the resort fee for the amenities already paid for?

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I agree. I wonder if the resorts really get the $ collected from resort fees or if it just goes to the HGVC coffers. Probably the latter.

To be fair, not only large chains are doing this. A great self managed resort I own charges a $5 day resort fee to a trader or owner using that week. To me this is wrong too. Obviously the mf needs to be $35 a week more.

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I own at one small resort in the OBX. Some units are ocean front and some are not. The resort goes out of its way to keep the MF's down. Personally I wouldn't mind adding another $20-50 or even a little more per week but I own summer and any fee increase is likely to get more winter owners to bail out which the board feels will cause the balance to tip and the fees to spiral out of control.

Owners know to expect to have to bring or go to the store for basics. The standard provisions include a full roll of toilet paper and whatever was left from the last guest, no facial tissues, one paper towel roll, 3 dishwasher pods and 1 washing machine detergent box, trash bag in each trash can and a single extra trash bag (not per trash can), no coffee filters or other items.

RCI guests expect more and the ratings reflected that. The board decided to charge RCI exchangers from May through September a $20 per week resort fee. This gets RCI exchangers only (not supplied to owners) an upgraded basket of supplies. The cost of the supplies is probably about $8-10. RCI exchangers get these year round (so the summer exchangers pay the cost to supply the October -April baskets.) I think owners can purchase the basket for $15 if they want one. State law prohibits MF's to differ by time of year otherwise I am sure the board and owners would happily pay more (not a whole lot more but $50-$100 annual more to be used toward upgrades).

That being said I think resort fees like HGVC and Massanutten now charge for things that have always been included (and paid through the MF's) are just money grabs from management.

Ah, but the owners already paid with their maint fees, now HGV is collecting twice. Does it really cost extra for the phones, wifi, movie rentals, etc that the resort fees are supposed to cover just because someone trades in? Does the owner that traded out get a refund of the resort fee for the amenities already paid for?

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I concur with the sentiment in this post. If a resort you own doesn't charge a resort fee, so therefore, you pay your maintenance for all of the amenities and supplies that the resort provides, and you exchange to another resort where there is a resort fee it kind of makes you feel that you were abused by the trading system. Now some might say well resorts all have various qualities and amenities. Well the RCI resort grading system should take care of that so that exchangers know somewhat what quality of resort their exchanging into.

Since this is an HGVC site I should tell my applicable HGVC coffee story. We are owners at HGVC South Beach. We went their a few years ago when they just changed from the traditional drip coffee pot to the Keurig Pod Coffee Pot System. We haven't been back since so we don't know if that system is still being used. Well we didn't like the strength nor the volume of the system, however, while they only gave us enough pods for 1 night, they said they give everyone all the pods they want complimentary.

The next month we went to Honolulu and stayed at the Hokolani Resort which had just opened for a couple of nights. We saw that they had a different Pod Coffee Pot System with little flat Pods. Again they only gave enough Pods for 1 night. However, when we asked the front desk for additional Pods they said that it was going to cost us $8 for a pack of 8 Pods. Well I went off the wall exclaiming that my maintenance at South Beach is paying for coffee for everyone, however, when I exchange into the Hokolani I must pay an exorbitant rate for my coffee! I insisted on talking to the front desk supervisor when he came in. The front desk supervisor pacified me with a second days worth of coffee Pods complimentary. Then I thought about the fact that we were only staying here for 2 nights so this was a minor issue, however, we were then going to go to the Lagoon Tower to stay for a much longer stay and paying for coffee at the rate of $8 for 8 Pods could get quite expensive. I called the Lagoon Tower and they assured me that they had the traditional coffee pot so that was not going to be an issue. We prefer the traditional coffee pot do to costs as well as so we can control the strength as well as the volume of coffee. I believe that this story illustrates the frustration that timeshare owners can run into if the resorts that they own provide amenities to guest complimentary, while at resorts that one exchanges into charge a resort fee.